Whoa! Where do I start with detox? Do I do a quarterly purge? Is it all about herbs, chelating agents, vitamin C, zeolites, and clay?
Amidst the myriad of options, it's crucial to delve into the fundamental science of the detox process, empowering you to make informed choices.
As always, the beauty of detox lies in its simplicity. Our bodies are equipped with natural detox pathways, a gift from nature and God. Remember, in our body, detox is not a one-time event, but a continuous, natural process.
Now, let's delve into the two primary detox approaches that can significantly enhance our natural detoxification processes.
Support and augment our body's existing detoxification- Liver, kidney, etc.
Complement existing detoxification pathways. That is, mimic the actions of these organs.
Supporting organ function and copying their actions ARE two different things.
Existing detox pathways:
THE HIGH-LEVEL ONES
The big ones are the liver, kidneys, spleen, and other organs in the digestive tract. At the highest level,
the kidneys are your master filter
the liver is your chemical manufacturing plant that can turn a toxin into a metabolite that the kidneys can remove
the spleen is your natural blood filter
These organs remove a substantial amount of toxins. Thus, a priority for optimal detoxification is to ensure their efficiency. Lab tests can be a barometer of their activity. For example, you want an optimal GFR of 90 - 120 mL/min. This indicates your kidneys are healthy and efficient.
Your liver's enzyme activity should be in an optimal range. Too many people have elevated liver enzymes due to fatty liver disease or infections, particularly viral types. Those jabbed and who have had severe cases of Sars-CoV-2 frequently have elevated liver enzymes from the spike or the upregulation of latent viruses.
Spleen function is harder to test, but red and white blood cell counts may be an indicator. The spleen removes toxins from infection, so measuring for and treating chronic infections will take the burden off the spleen's activities. Other tests for spleen function include physical exam, ultrasound, CT scans, MRI, and a bone marrow biopsy since the spleen is involved in blood cell production.
The best way to manage the liver and kidneys - and every organ, for that matter - is to optimize gut health. I have modified what is known as the 4Rs of gut health to an "8R" program provided to clients only. The more basic 4R program stands for Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, and Repair/Rebalance.
Gut health IS detox health.
SIMPLER PATHWAYS
Calling them simpler does not imply they are less important, but they are easier for you to manage and optimize. Here is a list.
Perspiration: Sweating—the better we sweat, the better we move toxins out of the body. A sedentary lifestyle, where we stay indoors in air conditioning, limits our ability to move toxins. Get outside, exercise regularly, and use infrared or sweat saunas.
Urination: The more we pee, the more toxins we remove from the body. Lack of water intake reduces our ability to move toxins out of our system.
Respiration: The better we breathe (deep and often), the more we move toxins out of the body. A sedentary lifestyle reduces this form of detoxification and stress, and forward head posture forces us into short, shallow breathing habits that aren’t effective at moving toxins.
Excretion: The more we defecate, the more toxins we move out of our bodies. Constipation stagnates potent toxins that inflame us. We should move our bowels 2-3 times daily, as our body should naturally eliminate what it consumes within 12-24 hours after eating it. Your stool MUST be optimal daily per the Bristol Stool Chart. https://www.continence.org.au/bristol-stool-chart
Sinus: Clear your nostrils and cleanse them regularly. This filter collects particles laden with organisms. The cool temperature of the nose is a nice petri dish for pathogens besides being a "dust collector." Options are saltwater flushes or a ~1% iodine rinse. My preferred cleanse is a liquid mask.
Perform oral care. Oil pulling is a great way to detox from biofilms. Dioxi Rinse, a chlorine dioxide gas solution, is a treatment that "denatures" many pathogens in the mouth, making them easier to eliminate, for example, by oil pulling. The chlorine dioxide gas penetrates more deeply than many liquid or solid oral treatments.
Skin: Your scalp and the rest of your skin can hold on to toxins and pathogens. Washing, scrubbing, and brushing are detox methods. In addition, different essential oils and castor oil can purge the skin of nasties.
Now let's discuss MECHANISMS of detoxification. How does your detox protocol work? What is it effective against?
Here is a not-so-simple diagram of a "not-so-simple" organ - the Liver. You can beyond this figure below for the key points that one should consider for inclusion in your detox protocol. In essence, the best detox methods will mimic what your natural systems are doing.
Your liver performs a variety of chemical reactions. Many convert foodstuffs into vital nutrients. However, others detox.
The list to the left is important. Here are some definitions.
Proteolytic Cleavage—aka Hydrolysis. This reaction occurs when acid, such as very strong stomach acid, cleaves a protein into smaller peptides or amino acids. Proteolytic cleavage is catalyzed by peptidase enzymes, which are proteases, proteinases, and proteolytic enzymes. This is why supplements like betaine HCl and digestive enzymes are helpful in someone with a sub-optimal gut.
The reactions in the figure above are critical to providing nutrients to the body. However, when these reactions occur on "non-self" toxins, they are converted to either inert substances or are otherwise metabolized for easy removal through normal kidney pathways.
Other mechanisms that may occur in the gut include:
Absorption
Chelation - a form of absorption
Adduct formation - also a form of absorption
Sequestration
Our monocytes and macrophages sequester toxins. In addition to their ability to detect and signal the presence of pathogens, macrophages sequester and digest microorganisms using the phagolysosomal and autophagy pathways or, ultimately, eliminate themselves through the induction of programmed cell death.
I suspect the C-60 molecule works, in part, by sequestration.
Immunoglobulins also appear to work by sequestration. For example, Immunoglobulin IgG is noted to remove "LPS." I suspect sequestration in the pathway because of the definition of LPS.
LPS: "One of the most studied bacterial surface molecules is the glycolipid known as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), produced by most Gram-negative bacteria. Much of the initial attention LPS received in the early 1900s was owed to its ability to stimulate the immune system, for which the glycolipid was commonly known as endotoxin. It was later discovered that LPS also creates a permeability barrier at the cell surface and is a main contributor to the innate resistance that Gram-negative bacteria display against many antimicrobials."
Here is what immunoglobulin IgG is noted to do. Note that I have shown a substantial reduction in chlamydial organisms as well. However, in all cases the Brownstein Protocol was combined with the IgG.
Another mechanism of detoxification not often considered is competition. Our body tightly regulates concentrations. For example, you can eat a lot of salt, yet your sodium level stays in a tight range. The excess is excreted. Using this concept of competition, the medical literature suggests that adding harmless or beneficial substances where there are toxins may facilitate the removal of the toxins along with the excess of the beneficial materials - when they are closely related biochemically.
An example of this mechanism is saccharomyces boulardii. This yeast is known to reduce harmful yeasts like candida and C. diff.
The concept of competition is not discussed, but the mechanism is possible. Currently, there is no established mechanism for why boulardii lowers candida.
When I recommend a probiotic, I always recommend taking several different types on separate days. This approach appears to be better than taking many at once. I believe even good strains have to compete for their "turf." The "bacteria in a Petri dish" experiment is a strong scientific inference. When the same bacterial strains overwhelm their environment, most die off in mass.
REMEMBER—EVERYTHING IN NATURE IS LOG-LINEAR. Although the upward trending line looks linear, the term "log" is on the chart to indicate that it is log-linear. Sorry to inform you, but there is not quick fix - only log-linear fixes!
In the biochemistry of detox, there are many sophisticated intermediary reactions. The ones in the blue figure above are the most critical because they can "neutralize" a toxin, making it more easily excreted.
Oxidation—thus oxidizing agents—may be the most important detox pathway. Why? Both our innate and adaptive immune systems use oxidation, which is often coupled to sequestration. Oxidation breaks down proteins and/or breaks apart cell membranes. Immune cells recognize "self," but other oxidizing agents may not. However, a risk/benefit decision must be made.
I don't believe any of the oxidizing systems used in functional medicine are completely harmless. God did not design them to be harmless to "self." Examples include;
methylene blue
hyperbaric oxygen
ozone therapy
chlorine dioxide
other oxidizing agents.
On the other hand, I do not think taking excessive amounts of antioxidants is without consequences. Since innate and adaptive immunity uses oxidation to protect us from toxins, does it make sense to flood our bodies with anti-oxidants? Years ago, I wrote several blogs about the harm associated with antioxidant supplementation. Some day, I will republish these with updates. The data and personal experience are clear - the dose makes the poison and the cure. Tread gently. Get your antioxidants from food - NOT PILLS.
Rather than make this blog too long, I will stop here and write another one focusing on detox agents. Thanks for reading!
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